Leading in the beginning of the almost two-hour race, American Haley Anderson came in second winning the silver while Hungary's Eva Riztow took the gold in Thursday's open water marathon

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LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 09: Eva Risztov of Hungary celebrates after winning the gold medal alongside silver medalist Haley Anderson of the United States in the Women's Marathon 10km Swimming at Hyde Park on August 9, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Updated at 6:36 AM PDT on Thursday, Aug 9, 2012

Eva Risztov of Hungary has won the women's Olympic open water race at Hyde Park, holding off American Haley Anderson in a sprint to the finish.

Risztov was out front most of the way in the grueling 10-kilometer race, leading a five-woman pack that broke away from the rest of the field. Anderson was the only one with a chance to chase down the leader after they made the turn for home, but the Hungarian reached up to make the touch just ahead of the U.S. swimmer by four-tenths of a second after a nearly two-hour race.

The winning time was 1 hour, 57 minutes, 38.2 seconds. Martina Grimaldi of Italy took the bronze, disappointing a huge British crowd that lined the banks of The Serpentine. World champion Keri-Anne Payne was fourth, just missing the podium.